Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Being Off the Grid

 I didn't really realize until lately how much I was depending on the fact that I can use the telephone, email, Facebook, and this blog to feel like I'm still connected to my life outside...my "real" life. But for almost a month, I have had only the most sporadic connection to any of these things. There is pretty much no way to obtain cell service or wifi in these national parks (duh). From fleeting time to time, I've had a decent signal in some place weird like a Visitors Center, or on top of a mountain, and I've used those moments to say "I'm out here!" But mostly we have had no electricity, no cell phones, no internet, no tv, no email. I'm sure it has been healthy for me. But it has been HARD. I have realized how vital my daily connections are, and how lost I feel without them. In a previous life, I got letters from friends or family every few weeks, and didn't worry in between. How times and communication have changed!

Our week in Yellowstone was wonderful. It is not breathtaking like Glacier. In fact, if anyone out there is planning to go to both, I'd say, go to Yellowstone first, and Glacier second. And even better, Grand Teton, then Yellowstone, and then Glacier. (Fly into one place and out of another. Take two or three weeks!)  Yellowstone is weird and wonderful, but the beauty is not so jaw-dropping. It's strange, it is beautiful, and it is unforgettable. But it also is a lot of time in the car, because everything you want to see in the park is about 30 to 50 miles from everything else, and it takes a long time to get from place to place.

This hydrothermal stuff at Yellowstone is pretty incredible. There is really almost no place like this on earth, and many of these things must be seen to be believed. There are geysers, mud pots, springs, and every kind of strange hot mess coming out of the ground you can imagine....and even some you can't. That's what makes Yellowstone different from anyplace else. It's just WEIRD. There is "Old Faithful," of course, which goes off dependably when they say it will. But there are loads of other weird things of every description. One can only imagine what the native people must have thought this whole thing meant when they came upon it without advance warning.

Late afternoon in the geyser basin

Steaming mud pot. Not quite like a Calistoga mud bath

Just a strange sight in a strange place

They are each weird and somehow wonderful

The truly faithful Old Faithful

A bear has been here!

The weather is changeable. One day on a hike it suddenly started to HAIL. Hard. Those are little balls of hail in the gravel. Then it just stopped!

And the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is as beautiful as anything you will see anywhere. We did a lot of hiking around the canyon, and every view just seems more spectacular. Every vista from each perspective is stunning. It is a very fragile and truly awesome place. Even the pictures, which are from my cellphone, seem hard to believe.

Afternoon light in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

In the canyon

More of the canyon

The other terrific thing about this area is the wildlife. While you are there you always have the possibility of seeing an animal you could live your whole life without seeing, except in a zoo. Animals like bears, bison, moose, elk, antelope, big horn sheep, mountain goats, bald eagles, foxes, beavers...and the list goes on, are a part of the experience of being at each of these parks.

Bears are a really big deal. Both black bears and grizzly bears live in each of these three National Parks, and knowing what to do if you come upon one is a constant refrain. First of all, it is really thrilling to see a bear in the wild. Everyone wants to see one. But not too close! Trying to make sure people don't attract bears is a constant preoccupation of the Parks. The bears and the humans can live around each other, but only if the bears do not find out that the humans have food. A long time ago, Yellowstone used to encourage bear/human interactions. They even had people feed bears from their cars! But, not surprisingly, people got killed, and bears got aggressive, and it turned out to be a disaster. Now they make sure you know that a "fed bear is a dead bear." This means very elaborate rules about how you keep food stored and where you take every tiny piece of garbage. As soon as a particular bear hangs around too much near where the people are, the Park figures someone has left out some kind of human food somewhere, which is what is causing the bears to come around. And then, that bear is marked for death. They have tried taking them far away, but they find their way back. So that is the end of that bear. It is very sad! The balance is very delicate. And pretty scary for both parties!

As soon as you arrive at these parks, especially if you are camping or hiking, there is a lot of instruction about how to let the bears know where you are, because the bears don't want to see you up close, just like you don't want to see them up close. So when you are hiking you have to talk out loud, or sing, and make human noises so they know to stay away. If you come upon a bear up close when you are on a hike, you are supposed to raise your hands and say really calmly, " Hi bear, I'm just walking here, don't mind me," and back slowly away. Don't run! (Then they will run after you like it's a game, or like they think they have to chase you.) Then, if that doesn't work, you are supposed to use this spray which is like a hot pepper spray that they find really annoying and horrible. When it gets into their nose, they will go away. This stuff costs about forty bucks... and you just keep hoping you bought it for nothing!

When you are driving on the roads, you sometimes come upon a place where all the cars are stopped along the road, and that's how you know there is something interesting to look at. The rangers call it a "bear jam," although it is more likely to be elk or bison or something else. One day we came upon a bear jam, and all the people were looking through binoculars at a scene far away. We looked through someone's high powered lens, and it was a bear eating the carcass of a buffalo (bison). How strange is that? You could live your whole life without seeing that, even at a zoo. We did see a bear walking in the woods another time, but from far away. We saw lots of amazing animals, but never saw a moose. (Dang.)

Grand Teton is much more beautiful than Yellowstone, I think,  but doesn't have the canyon or those weird thermal things. What it has is mountains. BIG mountains. It is such a beautiful place.....but....it was cold and rainy for the whole week we were there.We did get to go on some nice hikes, but we had planned a lake trip, a float trip down the Snake River, and many more hikes. It was just too damned cold and wet. Too bad. Still, it was beautiful and well worth visiting. We are just left with the feeling that we will need to return. (It is good to have goals). And who knows, maybe we will make it back some day. We stayed a bit longer in order to cross paths with some friends who were there on vacation, and that also made the whole thing worthwhile.

Clouds lower than the mountains!

A hike during a sunny break

Another lake in a sunny moment

Now we begin a week in Idaho. We are currently in Idaho Falls, just on the other side of the mountains from Grand Teton, and tonight we have the opportunity to use electricity, recharge our devices, catch up on email, and sort of rejoin the world of technology. Tomorrow, after we get fully restored, we are likely to be in the wilderness, and out of technology range, again.